Spring is in full bloom

After New Year's Eve, the damp and cold air could no longer stop the arrival of spring, and spring's vitality sprouted from every corner of the streets and alleys.

Tender grass sprouts, and weeping willows turn green.

Pink and white mountain peaches, golden forsythia, and blue and white magnolias are generously and casually splashed everywhere by the bright spring sunshine, and the banks of the school river are crowded with tourists taking pictures.

A gentle breeze blows, and the petals fall like fine snowflakes.

Hu Tong brushed aside a peach blossom petal that had fallen on his shoulder, strode through the bustling campus, and entered the deserted laboratory building.

The air in the corridor was stifling and heavy, pressing down on my chest with every breath.

My heart struggled, pounding wildly.

Hu Tong suddenly had the urge to run away, to rush back to her dormitory and crawl into her warm bed, or to turn the clock back a few days ago, to the time when she could read a few more pages of a book.

However, tests are ultimately unavoidable.

After checking the information several times with his phone, Hu Tong finally pushed open the heavy door.

"You're here so early?"

The graduate student in the computer lab raised an eyebrow in surprise, asked for his name, and pointed to a computer in the back row, "Hu Tong, right? Your seat is over there."

Seeing Hu Tong's nervousness, the graduate student smiled and comforted her, "Relax, it's not a serious exam. Looking at your foundation, if your study attitude is generally good, Professor Wu will accept you."

“Okay, senior sister,” Hu Tong readily agreed.

"It doesn't have to be that easy."

The graduate student chuckled and turned to post the seating chart.

As Hu Tong passed by, she glanced at the seating chart. There were about forty or fifty people taking the computer-based test, and the person sitting next to her was…

Tong Shu.

She was someone she had a brief encounter with in the external relations department; a reserved girl.

With acquaintances around, Hu Tong felt much more at ease. He sat down at his computer, turned on the computer, and started playing Spider Solitaire.

Before we knew it, the number of people in the computer room had increased.

Noticing someone sit down next to him, Hu Tong closed the game interface, turned around and greeted, "Long time no see, Tong Tong."

Hu Tong deliberately addressed her affectionately, trying to remind her of the joke about their names sounding similar: Hu Tong and Tong Shu.

Tong Shu did not show the somewhat shy smile that I had expected.

He glanced at Hu Tong, then silently pulled out a chair and sat down.

Hu Tong gave a listless twitch of his lips and looked away.

I didn't want to argue with her, after all, her condition was visibly bad, like a pit trapped in rotten fruit.

Hu Tong and Tong Shu were in the same college but different majors. Although there were general education courses that combined majors, the schedules of the two majors were completely different this year, with no overlap at all.

So they really hadn't seen each other for a long time.

Hu Tong didn't know what had happened to the other person, but everyone has bad days, and she allowed that to happen.

"Sigh, you've grown quite a bit, Hu Tong." Hu Tong shook his head, sighing to himself.

After listening to the graduate student explain the test rules and receiving the questions, Hu Tong put aside his distractions and started typing away on the keyboard.

She was very familiar with the topic, much more so than she was with Tong Shu.

Hu Tong laughed inwardly, his hands moving swiftly.

He felt like a great demon, suppressing his cultivation level and brutally crushing the righteous disciples who were just at the Foundation Establishment stage during the sect competition.

"Be gentle."

The graduate student, unable to bear watching any longer, came over and patted her shoulder, both amused and exasperated, "You'll have to pay for it if you break it."

Hu Tong scoffed, "Don't scare me, senior sister. This is normal wear and tear for teaching purposes, and it can be reimbursed."

"So, of all the things I've said to you, this is the only one you remember? Hu Tong." At that moment, the back door of the computer room was pushed open, and Teacher Wu, with her gray hair tied in a low bun, walked in.

She came up behind Hu Tong, lowered her head slightly, and looked past the edge of the glasses to the glowing computer screen.

"Looks like the question my senior sister gave me didn't stop this tiger?"

Hu Tong was overjoyed and stepped aside to make room for him. "I've got it! I have a program that timed out. Could you help me fix it?"

"Ahem, you mustn't disrupt the fairness and impartiality of the test!" the senior student said seriously, pressing Hu Tong back into his seat.

"Come find me when you have time. Listen to your senior sister now and don't bother the other students." Teacher Wu was helpless. She gently tapped Hu Tong's head with her finger, inspected the computer room, and quietly left.

Under the strict supervision of his senior, Hu Tong had no choice but to kowtow while tapping the keyboard as lightly as possible to modify the code.

Two hands, eight fingers, time slipped away eight times faster between her outstretched fingers.

"Time's up." The senior student walked to the front and announced, "Everyone can leave after uploading the program. Remember to turn off your computer and take your trash with you."

Hu Tong uploaded the file unhappily, still thinking about the imperfect program. He stood up angrily, determined to escape with the mess in his mind.

A question stopped her.

Who dropped something?

The crowd that was surging outwards was instantly frozen.

The male student was holding a rectangular cardboard box, the color of which reminded Hu Tong of the pale, lifeless pink of peach blossoms that had fallen on her shoulder.

The words on the cardboard box happened to be related to life.

Early pregnancy test strips.

The man stood next to where Hu Tong had sat, waving his arms with a grin.

"mine."

Hu Tong snatched the cardboard box from him and thanked him with a smile, "Thank you, classmate."

You're welcome, you're welcome.

The man winked and exclaimed, "What's this, classmate?"

A rustling sound of laughter gradually arose, like dust floating under the pale light, annoying and hard to catch.

"Can't you read?"

Hu Tong presented the cardboard box to the man, who then dramatically waved his hands and leaned back, as if trying to avoid something dirty.

Perhaps the person dancing with the cardboard box just now was his twin brother.

Hu Tong's expression remained unchanged as he said, word by word, "Pregnancy test."

"Test the baton."

"May I have good luck during the test."

Hu Tong waved the object in his hand and asked, "It's very effective. Shall I send you the link?"

"No, no." The man grinned, escaped from Hu Tong's grasp, and dragged his companion away, muttering to himself.

Hu Tong stuffed the cardboard box into his pocket, ignored the expressions of the others, and swaggered into the women's restroom.

A few minutes later, the door creaked open.

Tong Shu slipped in, her eyes red as she looked at her, biting her lip and remaining silent.

Hu Tong pointed to the cardboard box on the sink and said casually, "I need to use the restroom urgently, could you please throw this away for me?"

After saying that, she clumsily clutched her stomach and rushed into the cubicle, closed the door, and pricked up her ears, waiting for Tong Shu to leave.

The door to the adjacent cubicle opened and closed, and the sound of flushing water could be heard.

Hu Tong played a matching game out of boredom for a while, then opened the door. Tong Shu was standing in front of the sink with her back to her, rubbing her hands together over and over again.

"Don't you have anything you want to ask?"

Tong Shu suddenly spoke up, calling out to Hu Tong, who was about to slip away.

Hu Tong turned around, scrutinized her expression, and said in a seemingly casual tone, "Looks like your luck isn't so great?"

"..."

Well, the other person wasn't in the mood for joking.

Hu Tong straightened up a bit and said in a serious tone, "If you want to borrow money, you have to sign a proper contract with me. Your name, ID number, loan amount, and repayment date must all be written down, and it would be best if you could also put your red fingerprint on it."

Tong Shu frowned: "Why would I need to borrow money from you?"

"Why are you stammering for so long if you're not going to lend me money?" Hu Tong stared wide-eyed in surprise. "Is there anything more embarrassing than lending money?"

Tong Shu smiled through her tears and said bitterly, "Yes."

Hu Tong humbly replied, "Then I have learned a lot."

Tong Shu sniffed and looked down at her lower abdomen. "I really haven't had much luck."

Hu Tong was pretending to be stupid, but he wasn't really stupid, so of course he knew what Tong Shu was talking about.

But she was really bad at handling this kind of situation, so she turned her face away and muttered, "Just fight it, man can conquer nature."

Tong Shu touched her belly and said in a thick nasal voice, "Yes, man can conquer nature."

Seeing that she was in a stable mood, Hu Tong took two steps back, grabbed the doorknob, and said casually, "If you're not planning to lend me money, I'm leaving now, bye-bye—"

"It belongs to Guo Lin."

A bolt of lightning struck, causing Hu Tong to leap in front of Tong Shu.

"Did he force you?"

Tong Shu shook her head with a wry smile: "No, it was voluntary."

Hu Tong opened his mouth, but had nothing to say.

Tong Shu seemed to have found a channel to vent her emotions, and without caring about Hu Tong's reaction, she continued speaking.

“We’re from the same place. I admired him a lot in high school and took him as my role model. Without him, I might not have been able to get into Peking University.”

"After I came to Kyoto University, he took good care of me, so when he suggested a secret relationship, I didn't refuse..."

Hu Tong couldn't understand, but she couldn't find an opportunity to interject.

“I knew he had a lot of flaws before, but nobody is perfect. He explained to me that you offended him first, which is why he spoke ill of you in a moment of weakness.”

“He said I’m different, and I wouldn’t do anything to upset him, so he’ll treat me well.”

"I choose to believe him."

"later,"

"He refused to answer my calls, using the excuse that his phone was out of battery, and I chose to believe him."

“He used the excuse of social practice to book a hotel room in another city, and I chose to believe him.”

"..."

You're very trusting.

Hu Tong swallowed the curse, his unfocused eyes half-open as he watched Tong Shu's mouth open and close.

"I chose to believe him time and time again."

"It wasn't until he got tired of me and broke up with me that I realized he had been lying to me all along."

“No,” Tong Shu looked up at Hu Tong with her red eyes, “I’ve been deceiving myself all along.”

Having eaten a piece of gossip that he couldn't share with others, Hu Tong felt very upset.

She took a deep breath and asked in a trembling voice, "So what do you plan to do?"

Tong Shu was amused by her appearance and retorted, "Just hit it, man can conquer nature."

"Thinking about it now, there's nothing to like about him. He just stayed in the school office all day, treating it like his own private domain."

Hu Tong gasped, "I thought you were quiet because you were shy, but it turns out it's because you have such a sharp tongue..."

Tong Shu wiped away her tears with the back of her hand, and a tender sprout emerged from the decay, revealing a genuine smile, "Because I am kind."

She looked at Hu Tong, her eyes almost overflowing with light, "Thank you, Tongtong."

"It's nothing, good luck!"

Hu Tong tossed his hair with feigned nonchalance, opened the door, and walked out with his head held high.

Spring is in full bloom.

A breeze blows, and the petals flutter down, light yet grand, full of vitality.